Burmese Language
Burma to start disaster warning system
Burma will capitalise on developments in its domestic internet system to better prepare the country for possible future natural disasters.
A foundation run by former meteorology department chief Tun Lwin is being set up to tackle Burma’s poor monitoring system. Ecodep will open a centre in Irrawaddy division, where tens of thousands of people lost their lives in 2008’s Cyclone Nargis.
“We will mainly [distribute] information via the internet – now there are big towns with internet access in the [Irrawaddy] region, such as Bogale and Phyarpon,” he said. Staff would be trained in how to use the internet, and warnings would be distributed to fishermen and farmers via bodies like the Fisheries Association and the Rice Association.
“Our aim is to provide swift and solid information for grassroots people while using language that they can understand and offering them advice.”
Tun Lwin hasn’t had an easy relationship with the Burmese government – following Cyclone Nargis, which left up to 140,000 people dead, he resigned his post.
Authorities claimed he had failed at his job of providing warning of natural disasters, but he says he told the government of the impending disaster several days in advance, and that they sought to use him as a scapegoat to cover their own ineptitude.
Tags: burma, cyclone nargis, myanmar, Natural disaster, weather
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Before we go further with rapid developments in country, authority should consider to gear up its power distribution in domestic areas. All citizen should be able to access the electricity 24/7. Without electricity, all these projects as mention in news would be nothing but waste money. Only foreign company will gain profit from us.
Why would the military junta (a dictatorial government), who a year previous the cyclone struck oppressed it’s people in the most heinous way, even consider warning them let alone aiding them when the situation went from thin to thick immediately after it was pounded by the cyclone.
The Burmese government should be held accountable for the official deaths of the 180,000 persons and the unofficial count of over 1,000,000 farmers that died in the Nargis Cyclone. The Thanshwe and Maung Aye government of the time should carry the full blame for these deaths. If you recall, they were given adequate warnings weeks if not days ahead of the cyclone. It was the government of the time that refused to warn the people of the delta because they did not want to call off the Referendum which was to take place at the time. Thus they are guilty of negligence. Mr. Tun Lwin rightly says that he gave adequate warning days in advance. It was the disrespect and power hungry Thanshwe government which should be held accountable! They are guilty of genocide and deliberate cause of death, so that they could continue to hold onto power. These men in uniform should be brought to trial at the Hague and charged with negligence of duty. It was a deliberate act on the part of government officials who carried out the order of Thanshwe and Maung Aye. Then they had to audacity to cover it up! When the world wanted to come to it’s aid, they then told the world that they had everything under control. The world community should not forget and forgive these criminals so easily. They should be held accountable.
Even now this “change of heart” of these two men in uniform I believe is due to their belief that perhaps they could be charged in the World Court, thus now they are courting Daw Aung San Su Gyi. Shame on them! Let’s wait until we achieve democracy. If they are still alive, we can put them behind bars. They are also guilty of misappropriation of the National Treasure. They needlessly built they new Capital Ne Pyi Daw. This is a misuse of the country’s money. How much better the nation would be, had they used those funds to build the nation’s infrastructures, schools, hospitals and assisted the poor and needy! This alone is cause for charging them!